New Overwatch Map Launches Today On PTR, Is Set On The Moon

A new map is available today in Overwatch for some players. After teasing it on Monday, Blizzard today released the map Horizon Lunar Console on the game’s public test realm for PC.

An Assault map set in a scientific moonbase, Horizon Lunary Colony has some incredible views of Earth. You can see an overview video for the map above; that’s Winston doing the narration. For an even closer look, check out the images in the gallery below.

Blizzard has also released an official description for Horizon Lunar Colony, which explains the origins of the space base and touches a little on what went wrong there.

“Horizon Lunar Colony is an Assault map set in a scientific base on the moon. Built as a first step towards humanity’s renewed exploration of space, the colony’s goal was to examine the effects of prolonged extraterrestrial habitation–on human and ape alike,” reads a line from the map’s description. “The scientists’ research proved incredibly promising…until, suddenly, all contact and communications with the base were lost.”

The video directly above features director Jeff Kaplan talking about the map. He notes that there are “some really fun elements” on this map, such as the high-ground options for both sides around the first capture point.

Kaplan also discusses Blizzard’s approach to low gravity, given this map is set on the moon. There’s a certain section of the map that offers this, but not the whole map, as it felt like a gimmick that broke the game. For those who want to try that out anyway, Blizzard will be adding an Arcade option for a limited time that enables low gravity on all maps. Custom Games will also offer a low-gravity setting.

In other Overwatch news, the game’s Anniversary event is going on now, while Competitive Season 5 begins today.